Orlando: Prayer is Not Enough

by Bishops of the NY Diocese

The Diocese of New York
June 13, 2016

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Yesterday saw one of the worst mass shootings in recent American history, when a lone gunman killed and wounded more than a hundred people at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The shock and horror of this assault has covered our nation in mourning. Yet this was actually the 15th mass shooting in America so far in June, and the 133rd in 2016. Almost as horrifying as the killings themselves is the regularity with which we awaken to such reports, and the numbing of our sensibilities promoted by that regularity. We worry as well at the language of division and distrust, of racism and homophobia and Islamophobia, and of the demonizing of the stranger at the gate, which has characterized the rhetoric of some in the current election season. It seems that something essential to our common life is slipping away; that some essential thread of the fabric of our country is unravelling.

The shooter in Orlando has claimed a loyalty to ISIS and international terrorism, and the investigations to come will take place in that light. But we must not lose sight of the fact that his targeting of a nightclub frequented by members of the LGBT community was deliberate, and was a direct attack on that community. This violent expression of homophobic violence will certainly be and should be characterized as a hate crime, and comes also in the week in which we remember the shooting of nine African American men and women at Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston twelve months ago. Too often we see the escalating patterns of violence target those who have been historically marginalized in America. The Black Lives Matter movement has challenged our country over the lack of consequence and regard when people of color are killed or murdered, and today in our sorrow we say with the same conviction that LGBT Lives Matter, and remember the long record of violence against members of that community. Too often we are called to mind of the deeper currents in American life and history which have dehumanized and devalued our own brothers and sisters. To those who knew and loved the victims of this weekend’s violence, to the LGBT community in New York and around our country, and to a nation in mourning, we extend our deepest condolences and care, and our commitment to justice and equality, and to the right of all people to live in safety and peace.

President Obama has asked today what kind of country we want to be. That is a good question. In the wake of these shootings in Orlando, we your bishops made our parish visitations yesterday. As we prepared to receive candidates for confirmation, we again led the people of our churches in the renewal of our Baptismal Covenant. We renounced the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the people of God. We committed again to strive for justice and peace, and to respect the dignity of every human being. Against the background of such violence, these vows and promises carry a special poignancy, but they are in fact where the Christian life begins. It is where we declare the kind of men and women we will be, and the kind of community we intend to create and shape. It is a central tenet of our faith that people bound by such vows, accepting and embracing our redemption in Jesus, rising with Jesus into new life, may be salt and leaven and light for a suffering world in desperate need of godly transformation.

We commend the victims of the shootings in Orlando to your prayers and the prayers of your parish. But prayer alone is not enough. Now is the time to reach out in grace and power, and in brotherhood and sisterhood with the larger community of which our churches are a part. Let the Muslim congregations and people around you know that you refuse to characterize their whole community and people by the actions of this man. Let the LGBT community around you, and especially the great number of gay and lesbian people in our pews, know that they are beloved members of our community, and today we mourn with them the loss of their many friends, loved by us and by God. And we ask all Christian people in the Diocese of New York to re-embrace the risen life to which you have been called, to join with one another to build true inclusive community in our churches and bear witness to that before the world, to be repairers of the breach, to trust God and God’s Kingdom Come, to never forget to love neighbor and enemy, to be advocates and servants of justice for all people, and to be ever in the things you do and the things you say witnesses to the love of God for all people, witnesses to the life and love of the Prince of Peace. And as always we remain

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From Our Pulpit

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. [ More → ]

Here is a link to listen to the sermon by The Rev. Edwin Chinery on March 10, 2019, the First Sunday in Lent. There is also a link to the scripture for this Sunday. Lessons You can read the scripture for March 10, 2019, here.